The Los Angeles Lakers just sold for $12.5 billion to an ownership group that includes a guy who once openly admitted he couldn’t bring himself to root for them.
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger teamed up with Josh Kushner to buy the Lakers, which is a pretty wild turn for a guy who spent decades sitting courtside rooting for their little brother, the Clippers.
When news of the Lakers sale broke Wednesday, fans quickly resurfaced Iger’s old comments about why he could never root for the team.
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Back in January 2021, Iger explained his Lakers problem during an appearance on The Old Man and the Three podcast, hosted by none other than current Lakers head coach JJ Redick. Iger told Redick why, after moving to California in 2000, he simply couldn’t bring himself to root for the Lakers.
Disney CEO Bob Iger smiles as he arrives for the the annual Allen and Co. media conference Sun Valley, Idaho July 7, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Blake – RTX1JH73 ( )
“I couldn’t root for the Lakers very easily,” Iger told Redick. “It just was not in my DNA.”
Iger explained that growing up a New York Knicks fan made backing the Lakers an absolute non-starter.
Instead, he adopted the Clippers to get his basketball fix. His other reason for picking the Clippers over LA’s powerhouse was even simpler: price.
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Iger explicitly told Redick that “their seats were a lot cheaper than the Lakers.”
Los Angeles Lakers’ Governor Jeanie Buss appears as the Lakers host a 2021-2022 season kick-off event to unveil and announce a new global marketing partnership with Bibigo, which will appear on the Lakers’ jersey at the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. (Getty Images)
The man who just helped buy the Lakers for $12.5 billion originally chose the Clippers because the tickets were cheaper. Iger once said rooting for the purple and gold wasn’t in his DNA.
Now he owns a piece of the franchise.
The timing of the blockbuster deal is where things get even more interesting. Billionaire Mark Walter agreed to buy the Buss family’s controlling stake in June 2025 at a roughly $10 billion valuation. Just 14 months later, he’s flipping the Lakers for $12.5 billion.
That lightning-fast turnaround comes as Walter’s business empire reportedly faces federal scrutiny, including questions surrounding billions of dollars in private-credit investments. There’s no evidence the investigation forced the sale — or that Walter suddenly needed cash — but unloading the Lakers barely a year after buying them certainly makes the timing interesting.
As for Iger, he clearly has the resources to help purchase the franchise. But for a guy who once said rooting for the Lakers wasn’t in his DNA, becoming one of their owners is one hell of a plot twist.
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The Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Bob Iger and President of Marvel Studios and producer Kevin Feige attend the Los Angeles World Premiere of Marvel Studios’ “Captain Marvel” at Dolby Theatre on March 4, 2019, in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney) (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
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